Something unexpected happened to the Urban Land Institute's "Innovate Real Estate" theme at its spring conference that kicked off Wednesday.

The opening session for the 3,500 attendees at the Hilton Bayfront hotel was supposed to be about innovation in the real estate world, but the featured panelists largely debunked the concept.

"When we invest in startups, we want to see as many of our dollars go into the value of the products and we don't reward them for getting pretty spaces with foosball (games) and all that," said Greg Horowitt, cofounder and director of global enterprise at UC San Diego's Global Connect program. "In Silicon Valley, there's nothing remarkable at all about the four walls of the buildings. What's happening is everything inside and how adaptable and flexible the spaces are internally."

James Waring, executive chairman of CleanTECH San Diego that specializes in promoting green-technology, said it isn't that developers turn a deaf ear to new ideas.

The users and buyers of developers' buildings set market demand, Waring said. In housing, he noted, buyers routinely opt for granite countertop upgrades over solar-energy power cells, if they have to make a choice. And lenders aren't any less forgiving when a builder wants to experiment with a new idea.

"The financial industry does not support innovation and reward the industry," said Waring, who has spent 30 years in the development industry.

But innovation in other fields will very much drive changes in real estate practices, predicted Paul Saffo, a futurist and managing director of foresight at Discern Analytics.

"The arrival of robotic cars is going to have as big impact on your business as the arrival of suburbs and financial systems that allowed people to own their automobiles after World War II," Saffo said.

He implied that the need for multiple parking lots and garages, wider freeways and other transportation infrastructure will change when cars can be programmed to drop you off at your destination and then automatically park themselves at a remote site.

Saffo also offered futuristic thoughts for San Diego as a border city, following up on welcoming remarks from Mayor Bob Filner, who spoke of improving cross-border relations and bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics with Tijuana.

"The border doesn't want to exist and the federal government is going in the direct opposite to what the border wants to do," he said.

That's because city-states and regions, not nation-states, will shape the 21st century, he said, and legal immigration status isn't an issue for them.

"Regions and city-states regions don't care about citizens, they care about productive residents," Saffo said. "The federal government doesn't get that."